


The Three Wise Monkeys

by TheItalianScribe (TheIcyMage)



Series: Transcendence AU [3]
Category: Gravity Falls, Gravity Falls Transcendence AU
Genre: Implied Violence, OC, Transcendence AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-21
Updated: 2015-03-21
Packaged: 2018-04-01 12:07:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4019158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheIcyMage/pseuds/TheItalianScribe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dipper and his niece find a set of recently orphaned triplets.  What can they do for them?</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Three Wise Monkeys

**Author's Note:**

> Note: If you have never heard of the Transcendence AU, then (how did you find this?) please check out this summary: http://transcendence-au.tumblr.com/summary. Most of the the AU is built and collected on the tumblr blog.

Once the last of the cultists had been wiped out, Alcor was able to calm down. He should have been used to the human sacrifices by now, but sometimes it really made his head split with inner conflict. It definitely didn’t help that this cult was sacrificing an entire family. He couldn’t make out their forms, but something told him that it was a family of two parents and a set of triplets. His mind wondered to earlier scares and… Ņ̸͖̣o̯̲͟͞!̫͎͖̤̙̀͟͜ ̬̬̼͈͉̤͖ͅT͈̖͕͜ẖ̨̭͢ȩ̷͎̯͔̮y̨̦̱ͅ ̖̙̬̳w̷̬̜̤̝̖̜̭͘é̲̥̗̩͜r̼̮̥̮͔͇͔͉͝e̢̨̗̥̜ ̤̺̻̝̀h̤̘̜̩͍͕i͠͏̟̮s̢̳̗̖̠ ̴̧̫͙̫̯á̖̳͈̯͢n̕͏̢͕̮͈d͝͏̰̜̖̺̳̞͉̯͟ ̻̭͡͝ņ̗͍̭̻͚o͚̳̱̲̹̭b̧͇̱̣̦̥̰̹̰̝͠͝o̧̹̜̜d͉̺͓̟̲y̴̧̥̤̦ ҉͔ẉ̴o̘u͏͔̻̦̠̟͢l̖̰͢d̡̰͉͠ ̵̼͓̭̺̥̟̻̖d̖̜̹̩̀à̜̰̺̤̤r̨̹e̦̣͓͜͞͞ ̸̶͈̮͙͕̜͖͔̠t̲̻̯̩̙̰͚̜͠á̤̘̘̱k̸̰é̸̯̣͘ͅͅͅ ̡͎̟̝͍̪̤͟w̵͖͇͍̗̻h̠̯̬͠͠a̵͍͈̹̬͢͡t̡̙̗̲̀͟ ͏̴̥̜w̯ͅa̻͢͢s̶̝̘͓͞͝ ͏̲͞͝h̖̙̤͝ḭ̘̀ͅs̴̝̹̮̕͞!  
“Alcor,” Thankfully, Gliese’s cry pulled him from his darker thoughts.  
“What is it, Little Fight…” his voice trailed when he sensed three heartbeats. Their owners were miraculously still alive and, after he helped his niece clear away the rubble, were revealed to be three girls. The set of triplets were huddled together in an unconscious hug. Alcor and Gliese looked at each other. Carefully, Gliese set two fingers on the pressure point of each of their necks in turn.  
“They’re still alive.” Gliese didn’t need to check, but her words broke the silence, “Can we take them back home with us?”  
Alcor nodded, “At least until we can figure out what family they have left.” He could now smell the sunscreen and noticed the carrying pouches for sunglasses hanging from each of their necks, “It looks like their family was on a trip, so there’s no point leaving them for the local authorities to find.”

———-  
“Their names are Heather, Holly, and Hanna Cercopes.” Willow looked up from where they had set the girls on a couch. She searched each of the pouches and found their names printed on the tags. Much to her uncle’s protest, she denied his offer to find out their personal information. While near-omniscience was faster and more reliable, Willow didn’t feel like running to the store to pick up candy when she could find the girls’ Facebook pages and search their friends list for immediate family. Unfortunately, they didn’t appear to have any close relatives. Like her uncle said, the family was on a trip. The most recent post was only a few hours ago and voiced a complaint about their parents suddenly stopping the car. 

While she waited for them to regain consciousness, she brought out a med kit and treated their wounds. Thankfully, they didn’t appear to have any serious injuries. It seemed that they found something to hide under to shield them from the building’s structural damage. Satisfied with their dressings, Willow closed the med kit and summoned a flame to play with while she waited.

The first to wake was sitting at the far left. She looked up at Willow, wide-eyed and alarmed. When a burst of grey-blue erupted from her aura, Willow spoke up.  
“It’s okay. You’re safe here. Are you hurt anywhere?”  
The girl’s eyebrows bunched up in confusion. She watched Willow’s lips and held a hand to her right ear. Catching on, Willow spoke slowly with a gradual wave of understanding.  
“Can you hear me?” she asked. The girl only looked more confused and shook her nearest sister. The second girl slowly opened her eyes, then blinked. Willow could see the distress in her eyes. She turned in the direction of the first girl, but not quite at the right angle.  
“Mom? Heather, Hannah? Is that you?” By process of elimination, this sister had to be Holly.  
“It’s still too dark.” Holly’s eyes widened in horror, “Are we still there? Did that really just happen?” she gasped the last words out in a shaky breath.  
The first sister’s eyebrows rose in confusion and the Willow was slapped with a vibrant orange of panic. The girl put her hands to her ears and rubbed her thumbs and index fingers together just outside of each ear.  
“I can’t hear anything!”  
“Are you sure? Heather, this is no time to play jokes!” Wisps of green and blue swirled around Holly. Her sister, Heather, soon was sporting similar colors.  
The commotion awakened the last sister, who had to be Hannah. She looked around her in alarm. When she decided that the homey atmosphere was better than their last location, the grogginess from sitting still for so long allowed her to remain calm. Instead, Willow saw a spark of curiosity twinkle in her eyes for a moment. Though her facial expression clearly said, “Where are we?” when she opened her mouth the speak, she could barely croak out the first sound.

“It’s okay,” Willow told Hannah, “I’ll explain in a minute, but don’t worry. You’re safe now.” Hannah gave her a weak smile and scooted over to calm her sisters down.  
Willow turned to her uncle and they shared a look. Before she even asked, Dipper blipped to a different part of the house. She watched the sisters comfort each other as she waited. Soon after, he returned, though now in a more human and clearly corporal form, with two objects in hand. He tossed Willow a whiteboard and dry-erase marker. Willow recognized it as the set that hung in one bathroom. According to her mother, Willow’s father bought them after Uncle Dipper started writing him reminders in blood. When she was little, she would often see her father point to the whiteboard with a palm over his face and shake his head. Now, the set was finally going to get some use.  
“Hello,” as Willow spoke, she wrote her words on the whiteboard and held it up for Heather to see. "I’m Willow, and that’s my Uncle Ty-“ From the corner of her eye, she saw Uncle Dipper shake his head. She rose her eyebrows and when he nodded, she erased the first two letters and wrote, "Dipper.”  
“I’m Heather,” the first girl gave a short wave  
“I’m Holly,” the second sister called  
The third sister pointed to the whiteboard and pointed to herself. Willow handed her the set and the third girl wrote, “I’m Hannah.”  
After Hannah passed the board back, Willow took a deep breath and told them, “And I’m really sorry for your loss.”

——————–  
There was a stale silence in the room when Dipper’s youngest niblet finished. The girls hugged each other and cried. When their sobs subsided Dipper motioned for Willow to pass him the whiteboard. He broke the silence with a hard question.  
“What do you want to do?”  
Heather stared at the board and lifted her head to gaze at him with sad eyes.  
“Do you want us to go?”  
Dipper quickly erased the board and tried to rephrase, “No, no, no, no, no! I mean- If YOU want to Do you have any family that would take you in?”  
The girls turned to each other and shook their heads.  
“I’d be willing to take you guys in, if you want.” Dipper cleaned the board and scrawled Willow’s suggestion.  
The triplets turned to have a private discussion. He set the whiteboard next to the third girl and watched Willow walk to the kitchen. He felt the tug of a summon, but ignored it in favor of watching the three siblings communicate. It was a relief that they were close enough to help one another in such a time.  
———–  
Hannah and her sisters barely noticed when the woman, Willow, returned. They were busy looking through photos on Holly’s phone and telling stories to each other. Though they weren’t fully ready to accept what had happened (Heather voiced her suspicion of the woman and their situation, but Hannah somehow got the vibe that they could trust her and that she had dealt with things like this before), it helped them feel better.  
“Cheetos?” Holly and Hannah looked up at Willow with a start.  
Since Holly was closer, she tapped Heather’s shoulder and Hannah pointed to the bags of snacks. Hannah smiled as she took a bag. Holly looked unsure and Heather shook her head, but Hannah handed Holly her bag and took a second one from Willow. Hannah knew Holly would get hungry later and Heather would always sneak small bites from her younger sisters. While Hannah opened her bag, another flew over her head. There was a crinkle and plop. She looked over her head and laughed at the man looking down solemnly at his fumble. The man grumbled and dug into his Cheetos with a pout. Heather saw this and added volume to Hannah’s silent laughter. Though she missed the cause, Holly caught their contagious giggles and the three fell against one another in hysterics. Hannah had to pause to cough when their laughter grew two heavy for her. She looked up at the man and saw pink tint his cheeks. Realizing Willow had joined their laughter, she looked back at her and they smiled at each other.  
“Yep,” she thought to herself, “these people are good.”

——–  
It didn’t take long for the triplets to become part of the family. Willow’s children and other foster kids made sure they felt included. Mabel was ecstatic to have three more grandchildren; likewise, Gam-Gam Mabel was the grandmother they never had. Heather, Holly, and Hannah wore their “Hear No Evil,” “See No Evil,” and “Speak No Evil” sweaters respectively with glee. As soon as they added “Pines” to their names, they could tell when “Grunkle Dipper” was present, even when he wasn’t corporeal. As for Willow, they came to love her like a second mother, but couldn’t bring themselves to call her as such. Instead, they called her “Willow,” “Ma'am,” and a few other nicknames specific to the girls. They loved their birth parents and saw Willow and her family not as replacements, but as additions to their family.

 

The girls learned to cope with their disabilities. Even before everything happened, they had made a secret language based on Morse Code. Though they each carried a pad of paper or white board with them, they would mainly stay together and tap messages through interlocked hands to communicate with themselves and others. Later, they would find other ways to compensate for their lost senses, but their close relationship and collaboration carried them through many situations. It was their confidence in one another that allowed them to ask Willow one day, “Can we join the Pleiades?”  
Willow turned to the girls peering at her with determined looks in their eyes. She smiled at the well-worn sweaters her mother had knitted them. Willow already had an answer, but she wanted to hear the girls out.  
“We’ve seen Martine and the others head into action and we want to help,” Holly explained.  
From the corner of the room, Uncle Dipper had been keeping an eye on the girls as they worked up the nerves to speak.  
“They already make a great team,” He watched Holly transcribe his words to Heather and Hannah tap a message to Holly.  
“We’ve been training for self defense. If you say yes, we’ll learn to fight too.” Holly spoke for Hannah  
“Of course, we’ll do the fundraisers on top of the other jobs. Who can say no to three helpless girls?” Holly added  
“Plus, I think some of the work counts as community service.” Heather smiled.  
Hannah tapped a message, which Holly passed to Heather, and they all nodded in agreement.  
“Most of all,” Holly started. Her lips settled in a line.  
“we can protect other kids,” Heather looked directly at Willow with serious eyes.  
“from suffering our fate.” though it was Holly that finished, all of the girls’ faces dropped as the memories surfaced.  
Willow quickly hugged them and spoke softly, “Okay.” She paused for a moment and added, “If you do some training first, you can go on missions. Though, it’s really your choice if you want to join or not.” The girls smiled at her and nodded, but their eyes were still wet. When Willow let them out of the hug, they started tapping out their own conversation.  
“They should have a team name,” Something in Uncle Dipper’s voice told her he had been saving his next words for a while.  
“How about ‘The Three Wise Monkeys?’”


End file.
